Thursday, February 28, 2008

I've Got the Best Friends In the WORLD!

I got a box today from NC. Milli and Amy P. sent me a care package. Inside was yarn, home made stitch markers, fun size snickers, chocolate instant breakfast, bandaids (knuckle & fingertip, scooby doo and my little pony), four bags of dried cranberries (for the kiddos), cheese-its and country time lemonade. I really do have wonderful, wonderful friends!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Experimentarium

Yesterday we went to the Experimentarium in Helerup, Denmark with the Scotts. We took the train in, then caught the 1A bus, then walked about a block. Experimentarium is a hands-on science museum. We had a blast!

Tipton's favorite thing was this yellow chair that you could spin around in. I didn't get a picture of that, though. He also liked the wheelchair race - you used your own energy to spin the wheels on a wheelchair. You could race the person sitting next to you. And the energy you used dispensed a little cup of pear juice.




Lilli liked several things... First, she enjoyed spinning the information boards - they had information about each exhibit in three languages - Danish, Swedish and English.


Lilli also enjoyed dancing in front of the heat sensitive camera , proving once and for all that she is in fact our little fireball.



She also liked being inside a giant bubble and playing in the water.



Both kids liked playing with the blue screen at the "Xtrem Expedition" exhibit.






We were even able to send ourselves an email postcard!

As we were leaving there was a demonstration of a hot air balloon. This picture pretty much represents how the kids behaved at the museum...


Aaron is hanging from the railing - he was all over the place and kept running off. Tipton and Selena are both paying attention - they stayed with an adult and really got into the exhibits. Lilli is looking over her shoulder - always looking for something else to do/get into.

Peeps & Balloons

Aunt Jenni came to visit. So of course she made the kids balloon animals. And hats and flowers and swords...


No pictures of the peeps that she brought. We ate them.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!


Valentine's Day is not as big (read: commercial) as it is in the US. And that is just fine. But I was raised to think of it as a special holiday. And I am one of those moms who wants each holiday to be special for my children. And so I tend to go a little overboard.

This year I made conversation heart fudge. I wrapped the pieces of fudge individually with plastic wrap. And the kids helped me to make home made playdoug that we dyed red and cut into heart shapes. We put the hearts into ziplock bags. Then I made up treat bags for all the kids in Tipton's kindergarden class, and for Lilli's teachers at daycare. They each got a piece of fude, a handfull of conversation hearts, a mini tootsie pop, a valentine pencil, a playdough heart, a heart tatoo and a valentine sticker. Like I said, I tend to go a little overboard. But the kids love it, and I like doing it.

Oh, and Dave and I gave the kiddos little teddy bears. They are really soft. Tipton's is dark brown and has a red shirt that says "PUSS" and "KRAM" on it, which translates to "KISS" and "HUGS". Lilli's bear is a lighter brown and has a pink shirt with a red heart on it. She's holding it in the photo above. She takes the little bear EVERYWHERE and is constantly hugging and kissing it and saying "My favorite!"

Monday, February 11, 2008

There's Something About Lilli

This evening I walked into the bathroom and found Lilli sitting on the floor, rubbing a bottle of shower gel into her hair. She looked up at me, smiled, and said "My hair is spikey!"

Lilli - the Stylist

So the other day I walked into the living room and found Lilli doing this...



No, that's not hair gel she's got. It's hand lotion.

It took three shampoos to get all the lotion out of her hair. Although I must say that her hair is now silky smooth.

Back in the Land of the Living

Of all the Swedish things we've done and seen since moving here, and I must say that the Winter Vomiting Sickness has been the least enjoyable. In fact, it was just plain awful. "Winter Vomiting Sickness" does not even begin to describe it. And for your sake, I won't try to describe it either. Just know that I would never wish it upon my worst enemy.

This past week has been a blur of videos and trips to the bathroom and laundry and tiny sips of water and bites of toast and applesauce and yogurt. On Tuesday it looked like Lilli was getting better. Then Wednesday morning Tipton and I "got" it. Tipton ended up staying home from school the rest of the week. Lilli never made it in to school at all. I only left the house to get the mail.

Saturday was better. Dave took Tipton to Judo. We met the Scotts at the children's symphony that afternoon, then we all went out to dinner. (At a really good chinese restaurant! Must go back there when food becomes enjoyable again.) I still wasn't 100%, but it was nice to get out of the house.

Yesterday (Sunday) was much better. Dave to Tipton to ice skating, then came back and picked up me and Lilli. We went down towards the harbor and met Sam, Selena and Aaron at a playground. Really cool playground. Had three giant slides that the boys went down and a smaller slide (the trunk of an elephant, really) for Lilli to go down. We played there for about an hour and a half, then walked a few blocks to a pizza place for lunch. After lunch the Scotts went home and we made a mad dash through ICA Maxi for some much needed groceries. Lilli and Dave took naps, Tipton played with Legos and I cleaned the kitchen and made banana bread.

Tipton went to school today. Lilli stayed home - her new schedule has her going to school Tuesday and Thursday this week. Around 10:00 Sam and Helene came over, and we started Swedish lessons!! Helene is teaching Sam and I. It is very nice to have a private tutor - we can go at our own pace, and she is very flexible. Lilli behaved very well. I put on a video for her when they arrived. When her videow as over I gave her some paper and stickers. When she tired of that she sat in my lap and drew pictures.

The Swedish lesson went very well. I am very much looking forward to our next lesson, which will be on Thursday!

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Winter Vomiting Sickness

When I took Lilli to daycare on Monday, one of her teachers told me that they had the Winter Vomiting Sickness. One of the instructors and about half of the kids were out with it. My first instinct was to scoop Lilli up and turn around and walk out. Oh, if only I had listened to my instinct...

I had heard tales of Sweden's Winter Vomiting Sickness. It is awful. Nonstop vomiting for days and days, and it's very contagious. We managed to avoid it last year.

Thursday night Tipton started coughing. He coughed all night in his sleep. Friday he was still coughing, but went to school anyway. By Friday evening his cough was much, much worse. Saturday morning we kept him home from Judo and had a nice restful day of playing video games. By Saturday afternoon he was hardly coughing at all, so we went ahead with our dinner plans.

We went over to a friends house for dinner. Tipton got to play with his friend and Dave and I got to have some grown up company and conversation. Lilli split her time between Tipton and me. Lilli didn't eat any dinner, but then she had been snacking on chips all evening. I figured she had just filled up on chips, and was too distracted by being somewhere different. The kids all stayed up way past their bedtime. Lilli finally passed out on the couch. Litteraly. At one point she sat up and asked for some milk. I told her it was on the table. She sat there, swaying visibly, contemplating whether it was worth the effort to get up. Then she threw her arms up and flopped backwards and passed out.

She slept on their lovely leather couch. We grownups were either in the kitchen clearing away the last of the dishes or helping the kids put away some of the toys when Lilli cried out. I figured she had just woken up and was alone in a strange room. Oh no. She had woken up, alone, in a strange room. But I think the reason she'd cried out was because she had just thrown up. All over our friends lovely leather couch. I felt awful. Awful that Lilli was sick. Awful that she'd thrown up on their couch. Awful that we had brought a sickness into their house.

Fortunately I had brought a change of clothes for Lilli. I got her cleaned up and my friends got their couch cleaned up. I sat and held Lilli and she drifted back to sleep. We stayed longer, continuing our visit. Then Lilli got sick again. I managed to get up off the couch and off the rug before she threw up (but not quite all the way to the bathroom.) We took this as our cue to leave and started getting Tipton prepared to leave "Just five more minutes" we told him. Then Lilli threw up again. This time I managed to get her into the bathroom.

My friend had told us of an over the counter medicine that we could get at the Apoteket (drug store) that would help replace all the minerals, etc that she was losing. We should give it to her a spoonfull at a time to keep her hydrated.

We'd barely made it out of their neighborhood when both kids fell sound asleep. So we decided to drive straight to the Apoteket (before they closed.) We then stopped by a gas station and got some gatorade-type drink. We made it home just in time for Lilli to throw up again.

Dave and I decided that Lilli would sleep with me in our bed and he would sleep on the couch in the living room. We gave Lilli a few droppers of the gatorade and she went right to sleep. About an hour and a half later she threw it up. About three and a half hours later she was up asking for milk. I gave her another dropper of the gatorade. And a little bit of water. She wanted more water, and even though I knew she shouldn't have too much too soon, I gave her some more. Not a whole lot, just another couple of tablespoons. She had to go potty. I sat her on the potty and she got sick again (from both ends, shall we say.) Poor little thing. Dave got her some new jammies and I got her rinsed off in the tub.

She wanted more water. We gave her another dropper of gatorade and a tiny bit of water. And I watched her for about an hour before falling asleep. She was up about two hours later asking for more water. I gave her another dropper of gatorade and another tiny bit of water. Then she was up for the day about an hour and a half later.

She has been asking for water and "blue stuff" (gatorade) all morning. We are letting her have a tiny bit every few minutes. So far (knock wood) she has managed to keep it down.

I hope the rest of us manage to avoid this. And that Lilli gets better quickly.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Lilli's Imagination

Last Friday Lilli and I made several bead necklaces. On Tuesday Lilli was wearing one necklace on her head like a headband. She had a second necklace hanging out the back of her pants, like a tail. And she had a third necklace hanging out the front of her pants, like -uh - "another tail." She came to me and asked if she could go outside and hang from a tree so that she could be a monkey.

I really wish I'd gotten a picture.